Yeah this reminds me of a thought experiment with Ethereum virtual machines. If someone writes and produces the code for tornado cash, publishes it on the internet as free speech but never deploys it obviously they are not at fault. So lets say they publish it and some anonymous person from Somalia publishes it to the Ethereum network and the nodes absorb the program.
When then is responsible for the tornado cash instance? The Ethereum VM node operators who have no idea they're even running it? An unknowable person from Somalia?
Right now the node operators worldwide even to this day are running tornado cash on their EVM, including validating transactions to sanctioned contract addresses.
And keep in mind, the US Treasury has said that it would issue licenses to Americans who need to be able to withdraw their legitimate funds from Tornado cash. Some validator needs to be able to process those transactions, and would have no idea whether any particular TC withdrawal is licensed or not.
When then is responsible for the tornado cash instance? The Ethereum VM node operators who have no idea they're even running it? An unknowable person from Somalia?